A sprint is a fixed-length work cycle in agile software development, typically lasting one to four weeks (two weeks is the most common). At the start of a sprint, the team commits to a specific set of work items. At the end, they deliver completed work and review what they’ve learned.
Sprints are a core concept in Scrum, one of the most widely used agile frameworks.
You’ll hear this when…
“What sprint is that in?” means “when is that scheduled?” “Sprint planning” is the meeting where the team decides what to work on. “Sprint review” (or “demo”) is where completed work is shown to stakeholders. “Sprint retrospective” is where the team reflects on what went well and what to improve.
“Velocity” is the amount of work a team typically completes per sprint, used for planning future sprints. “Sprint burndown” is a chart showing how much work remains during the current sprint.
Outside software
The term has been adopted by non-engineering teams — marketing sprints, design sprints, “innovation sprints.” Google Ventures popularised the “design sprint,” a five-day process for answering business questions through prototyping and testing. The core idea of time-boxed, focused work cycles travels well across disciplines.
Note: “sprint” means something entirely different in project management and manufacturing contexts, where it can refer to a burst of effort to meet a deadline rather than a structured, recurring cycle.
Source: Scrum Guide by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland